Which to use
“pained” and “paved” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #32,111
- “pained” frequency rank
- #12,651
- “paved” frequency rank
- 44762
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pained | paved |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | In pain, especially in an emotional sense. | Covered in pavement; having a hard surface, as of concrete or asphalt. |
Where the eye mixes pained and paved
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between pained and paved
A purely visual mix-up. pained (/peɪnd/) and paved (/peɪvd/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44762, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pained is recorded at frequency rank #32,111, classified as anadj, pronounced /peɪnd/. paved is at rank #12,651, tagged as anadj, pronounced /peɪvd/.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 44762, this pair ranks #227,584 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pained vs paved
Shared letters: adep. Private to "pained": in. Private to "paved": v.
"pained" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "paved" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "pained" and "paved" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "pained" or "paved"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "pained" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "paved" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #227,584 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pained" and "paved" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pained vs plied". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #227,584 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.